Road Trip
by rgoodfellow
Summary: Tremors Crossover. A couple of strange people show up at Chang's Market, just in time for a Shrieker attack.


Just a short little fic about a brief encounter at Chang's Market. Enjoy!

* * *

**Rest Stop**

"Tyler," Burt Gummer's voice was distorted by static. "We've got a problem."  
  
Tyler Reed, sitting inside Chang's, unhooked the 2-way radio from his belt.  
  
"Tyler here, what's up Burt?"  
  
"What is it Tyler?" Jodi asked, moving out from behind the counter. Tyler shrugged, and waited for Burt to continue.  
  
"We've got Shriekers, and they're headed for town."  
  
"Shriekers? If there'd been another Graboid hatch we'd know, wouldn't we?" there was a sound from outside, and Tyler moved to one of the windows.  
  
"It looks like they came in through the gully above Cactus Ridge. The Graboid must've hatched in Dry Gulch."  
  
"We've got even more trouble Burt," Tyler said with a sigh.  
  
"What? What is it?"  
  
"Tourists," Tyler watched as a Duster from the early '70's pulled up in front of Chang's Market.  
  
"On my way. Out," Burt broke the connection, leaving Tyler and Jodi to deal with the newcomers.  
  
"Jodi, you get ahold of everyone, make sure they heard the warning. I'll deal with this," stepping out into the street, Tyler checked for Shriekers. He realized that he hadn't asked Burt how far away they were.  
  
"Howdy folks," he said, hooking his thumbs through his belt-loops and checking out the car. Wow, it was a Demon. They only made those for two years. Anyway, back to work. "We've got a bit of wildlife trouble at the moment. If I could just ask you to head inside until the problem's dealt with..."  
  
"Sure," said the driver, an auburn-haired young woman, who climbed out of the drivers seat and stretched. "We really can't leave until our friend gets here anyway. We're supposed to meet him here today," she stepped around the front of the car, and poked whoever was in the passenger seat.   
  
"C'mon, get out Aetolus, we're here."  
  
"Yeah, sure Robyn," a young man said as he stepped out of the car. Leaning back in, he pushed the seat forward and a woman got out of the back seat.  
  
"Next time, I get the front seat," she said.  
  
"Okay, okay Keahi," he said, holding his hands up in surrender. "Geeze, if looks could kill..."  
  
"They can. Remember that for next time."  
  
"I'm Tyler," he said, almost laughing at the look on the girl's face. "Welcome to Perfection."  
  
"Thanks," the auburn haired one named Robyn said." "Tyler, come in Tyler," Burt's voice crackled.  
  
"I'm here Burt."  
  
"Those Shriekers are making a bee-line for town. Is everyone there?"  
  
"Not yet Burt. Nancy's here," Tyler said, as she ran across the street wearing her space blanket. "And I can hear Rosalita's truck coming in now."  
  
"Good. My ETA is five minutes. Give these tourists a Sit-Rep and hand out the spare blankets."  
  
"Got it covered Burt," Tyler said, following the three newcomers into Chang's Market. "Look," he said, getting their attention. "It's like this... There's a group of things called Shriekers headed this way. They hunt by heat, and the only way to stop them is to kill them. Jodi, did I miss anything?"  
  
"Here," Jodi said handing each of them a comic book. "It's all in there," she bustled over to the windows, and began to pull a heavy steel gate down over each of them. "I'm glad we installed these."  
  
Rosalita entered a moment later, and looked at the strangers sitting unconcernedly at a table. "These the tourists?  
  
"Do you mind if I help myself to some of that coffee?" the dark haired girl named Keahi asked, pointing to the carafe behind the counter.  
  
"Yeah, sure," Jodi said. Just then, a truck skidded to a halt in front of the store, and Burt clambered out. Rosalita pulled open the door to let him in. As soon as he was inside, she slammed the door shut behind him, bracing it with a steel rod.  
  
"Do you really think this is a good time for coffee?" Tyler asked, as Keahi fixed herself a cup.  
  
"I think any time Robyn doesn't say 'NO,' is a good time for coffee," she replied with a smile.  
  
Ignoring this exchange, Burt opened a trapdoor set in the floor behind the counter, revealing a large gun safe set into the reinforced concrete of the floor.  
  
"There are two packs, six Shriekers each," he said handing a high-powered assault rifle and several magazines to each of the residents of Perfection valley. "They're headed this way, but they might get distracted by those cattle Twitchell brought in for El Blanco."  
  
"That means they'll multiply, right?" Robyn asked, looking up from Jodi's comic.  
  
"And you are?" Burt asked, eyeing her and her friends suspiciously.  
  
"The one with the plan," she said.  
  
"Plan?" came a new voice, from out of nowhere. "Did I miss anything?" a young man in his mid-twenties stepped out from between the shelves. He wore faded blue-jeans, and a denim jacket which Burt was sure was concealing something.  
  
"Miss anything?" Aetolus said with a chuckle. "We found Logan, Override got loose, and now we're about to be attacked by heat-seeking worms with legs."  
  
"So... that'd be a yes?"  
  
"How'd you get in here?" Jodi asked, storming up to the stranger.  
  
"Through the hole in the floor," he replied, gesturing over his shoulder. "So what's this about a plan?"  
  
"Hey Talon," Robyn said with a wave. "I think we'll go the Bug Zapper route today."  
  
"Bug Zapper? Hmm, I'll have to think about that," he said.  
  
"Wha?" Tyler sputtered from where he and Jodi had gone to investigate the hole the newest visitor had mentioned.  
  
"Well?" another new voice said. "Aren't you going to help me up?"  
  
"Callen?" Robyn said. "Is that you?" she asked as Tyler and Jodi came out from behind the shelf, followed by a girl with red-on-black hair and a slightly feral smile.  
  
"If you're finished with the reunion," Burt interrupted. "I'd like to hear this plan of yours?"  
  
"Plan?" Callen said. "What do we need a plan for?"  
  
"Giant bug zapper," Aetolus said.  
  
"Oh, right," Talon said. "I've got it. We'll need a couple of..."  
  
"Too late. Here they come," Tyler exclaimed, pointing out the window.  
  
"No worries," Robyn said. "This isn't something we need to build."  
  
"It isn't?" Talon asked, surprised.  
  
"No," she shook her head. "Just watch."  
  
They all peered out the windows as the Shriekers approached the front of the building.  
  
"What are they after?" Rosalita asked.  
  
"The car," Burt said. They'll be attracted to the heat of the engine."  
  
"Oh, I get it now," Talon said.  
  
The residents of Perfection recognized the signs, the Shriekers were preparing to attack. Their high pitched cries intensified, and one of them leapt onto the hood.  
  
There was a sound like a kettle whistling, and flames licked out from under the hood. Tyler winced at the thought of the damage the flames were doing to the engine.  
  
The Shrieker tried to rip through the hood, trying to get to the heat the car was radiating. The flames wrapped around the creature, and was pulled down under the hood.  
  
"What the hell?" Tyler sputtered.  
  
"Exactly," Robyn laughed.  
  
The shrieking sound intensified, and the group inside the market realized there were now at least two dozen Shriekers ranged along Perfection's only street.  
  
Some of them had obviously decided to investigate Chang's.  
  
"Burt, watch your six," Talon shouted, as one of the Shriekers tried to break through the window behind him. The glass shattered, but thankfully the metal grate held. Burt pushed the barrel of his rifle through one of the gaps, and fired straight into the Shrieker's mouth.  
  
"Thanks," Burt said. "Now make yourselves useful and cover those other windows. Everything's behind the counter."  
  
"I'll use my own thanks." Talon said, pulling something out of his jacket. It was a matte black semi-auto, but strangely enough Burt didn't recognize it.  
  
"Where'd that girl go?" Rosalita wondered, looking around.  
  
"Hmmm?" Robyn looked up from Burt's gun safe. "What? Callen? She's more of a tooth and nail kinda person."  
  
"You mean she's gone out there to try and fight these things hand-to-hand?" Burt asked, while picking Shriekers off through the window.  
  
"More like claw-to-claw," Keahi said, finishing her coffee and selecting a 6.5x.55 and a box of hollowpoint ammunition.  
  
"That doesn't have much of a magazine," Burt warned her.  
  
"The day I _need_ a magazine, is the day I retire."  
  
"Retire from what?" Nancy asked.  
  
"You don't want to know," she replied, taking out three Shriekers in rapid succession.  
  
"Aren't you going to help?" Jodi asked Robyn, who was sitting on the counter, drumming her heels.  
  
"Nah," she said, picking up the jar of beef jerky next to her. Pulling out a few pieces, she laid a few dollars on the counter. "They don't need my help to take pot shots at blind chickens."  
  
"I don't think you fully appreciate the seriousness of the situation."  
  
"Probably not," Aetolus responded. "Robyn doesn't really appreciate seriousness."  
  
"Speaking of which," Robyn said, dropping down from her perch. She moved over to the dining area, and leaned across the counter. Rummaging underneath, she seemed to be muttering softly to herself. "Aha," she exclaimed, emerging with a spice bottle held high.  
  
"What're you going to do with that?" Jodi asked, following her as she moved towards the window Keahi was covering.  
  
"Scootch over a sec," Robyn said to Keahi. "They can't see movement, can they?" she asked, turning back to the room.  
  
"No, just heat..." Burt said, watching her with interest.  
  
"Let one of them in close," Robyn said to Keahi. "I'm curious," so saying, she pushed her arm out through one of the gaps in the metal grate.  
  
"Curious about what?" Rosalita asked scornfully. "Being an amputee?"  
  
Robyn thought for a moment. "No, not really," she said finally.  
  
"What're you up to?" Aetolus asked with a grin.  
  
"Mischief," she replied, eyes twinkling.   
  
The Shriekers, which learned fairly quickly, became increasingly less inclined to come within sight of the windows. There was a thump from around the back of the market, and what was left of a badly mauled Shrieker flew past.  
  
"Guess they're trying to sneak in our blind spot," Talon said. "Thanks Khystra," he yelled out the window.  
  
"Your friend did that?" Tyler asked. Rubbing his eyes, he tried to reconcile the mess hanging from the water tower with the wide-eyed girl he'd met only a few minutes ago.  
  
"Here it comes," Robyn said as one of the strange looking creatures approached her window. Its heat sensing organ was flared as it moved along the wall, looking for food.  
  
It stood in front of the window, ignoring Robyn's outstretched arm as though it couldn't see it. Robyn grinned, and upended the small jar over its head. Immediately, the delicate membranes snapped shut. Not, however, before they red-brown powder had gotten in.  
  
For a moment, nothing happened. The Shrieker stood stock still, radiating surprise, then stumbled backwards.  
  
"What is that?" Jodi asked, perplexed.  
  
"Cayenne pepper," Robyn said with a grin, tossing her the empty jar. "I doubt it'll last long. I really just startled it. You might want to try something stronger next time," she said, wandering off as the Shrieker steadied itself. "Like pepper spray."  
  
"Or thermite," Talon suggested hopefully as Keahi shot the Shrieker scrambling back towards them.  
  
"We're running out," Keahi sighed, chambering another round.  
  
"What?" Burt asked, horrified. "We should have enough ammunition to deal with ten times this many Shriekers."  
  
"No, we're not running out of ammo," she replied. "We're running out of targets."  
  
"You people are insane, you know that?" Tyler said shaking his head.  
  
"Yes," they chorused cheerfully, smiling as Tyler rolled his eyes at them.  
  
"Y'know, between you, Callen and the Demon, these things are going to be extinct pretty quick," Aetolus said, browsing through the rack of comics.  
  
"And?" Keahi replied.  
  
"Just making an observation," he said with a chuckle, pulling a couple of comics out of the rack. "She's done it again," he said a moment later as he wondered through the shop.  
  
"Who's done what?" Tyler asked, abandoning his position.  
  
"Robyn's fallen asleep," Aetolus pointed to where she had curled up on the floor using a stuffed El Blanco as a pillow.  
  
"In the middle of a firefight?"  
  
"Wouldn't be the first time," Callen said, stepping in through the back door. She wiped her feet on the mat, and dropped into one of the chairs. "That was fun," she sighed. "There're one or two left, but they were trying to sneak up on the Demon."  
  
"Smart move," Talon chuckled. "A quick, painless, death..." he turned towards the door just as one of the remaining Shriekers launched itself through the wall.  
  
Time seemed to slow as the creature struggled to regain its feet.  
  
_Talon's hand disappeared into his jacket, and reappeared with agonizing slowness...  
  
Tyler grabbed a piece of broken board from the debris and swung...  
  
Burt kicked the creature as it passed, sending it stumbling...  
  
Keahi pulled a wicked looking poniard from her black leather boot...  
  
Callen reached out, her hand a blur...  
  
_Just as suddenly, time sped up again, and everything was happening at once.  
  
... wrapped around a sharpened wooden dowel. He plunged it down into the Shriekers heat sensing organ.  
  
... shattering several of its armoured mouth-parts, causing it to squeal in pain.  
  
... knocking over several shelves.  
  
... driving the blade deep into the maddened animal's brain.  
  
... when it came to a final halt, she held its heart in her hand.  
  
"Ew," Rosalita said, as Callen contemplated the dripping chunk of meat she held. "Why would you do something like that?"  
  
"'Cause they don't taste half bad. Kinda like electrocuted pigeon. Could use a little bbq sauce though," Callen replied thoughtfully, peering out through the hole in the wall.  
  
"The Shriekers are all gone," Burt said, checking the satellite uplink on his laptop. "But what's that?" he pointed to something on the screen moving towards their position.  
  
"It's just the Demon," Callen said, pulling Talon's wooden stake out of the Shrieker's corpse, and skewering the heart with it.  
  
"I'll put that on your tab," Talon said, as Callen stepped through the hole in the wall.  
  
"You do that," came the reply.  
  
Crouching down, Burt sifted through the detritus. Picking up a handful of expended shell casings, he examined those with which he was unfamiliar.  
  
Behind his yellow shooting glasses, Burt's eyes narrowed. "Where did you get these," he asked, turning to Talon, "looks like a ceramic shell casing."  
  
"I picked it up somewhere," he replied with a grin.  
  
"Doesn't look like much," Burt held up a shell casing smaller than a .22, and comparing it to one he pulled out of his .44 mag revolver.  
  
"Oh, we're playing that game are we?" Talon laughed, and removed an S&W X-frame .500 magnum revolver from somewhere in his jacket. "A freaking ton and a quarter of impact energy, from a handgun no less."  
  
Burt snorted dismissively, and removed a Ruger Mini-14, .223 carbine from the gunsafe in the floor.  
  
Talon just smiled and, reaching into his back pocket, and drew out a sporterized Garand, semi auto 30-06. Editor's note: for those of you that aren't gun savvy, this is a rifle.  
  
"Well, nothing can beat the Barrett .50 for penetration," Burt said, retrieving his .50 calibre rifle from the gun safe.  
  
"If you say so," Talon said with a sadistic grin, reaching into the inside pocket of his jean jacket and pulling out... a pair of chopsticks.  
  
Keahi and Aetolus gasped, and muttered quietly to each other, nodding sagely.  
  
"Are you finished?" Robyn asked, yawning as she walked past them. She adjusted her sunglasses, and stretched as she walked towards the door.  
  
"Yep," Talon replied, humming 'Duelling Banjos' under his breath as he made the weapons disappear. "Have a nice nap?"  
  
"Did you have nice dreams?" Keahi asked with a wicked grin.  
  
"Um, something about getting lost underground. There were cats. And rainbow coloured socks," she shrugged. "Well, time to go," she turned to Talon. "Where _are_ we going, anyway?"  
  
Talon turned silently and pointed at Tyler's ballcap.  
  
"Area 51," Aetolus said, incredulously, checking out the logo. "Again?"  
  
The stepped out of the shop, into the Nevada sun, and the residents of Perfection were disconcerted to find Callen roasting the Shrieker heart over the Demon's engine block.  
  
"Better eat that quick," Aetolus said. "'Cause Robyn won't let you bring that in the Demon."  
  
"Wait," Tyler grabbed Robyn's arm, and she spun around, knocking him off his feet.  
  
"Sorry," she said. "Reflex," there was a muffled snicker from behind her, which she ignored.  
  
"Forget it," he said, dusting himself off. "You're going to Area 51? Like, in Roswell, with the aliens?"  
  
"Yeah," Robyn replied, picking his hat up off of the ground at her feet. She turned to her friends, who were getting into the car, and held out a hand.  
  
"What?" Tyler stared in confusion as one of them tossed her a marker. "Hey, my hat," Tyler tried to grab it as Robyn scribbled something on the brim. She danced out of his way, as Jodi and Rosalita laughed from the boardwalk.  
  
Tossing him back his hat, Robyn climbed into the car and, with a wave, the strangers were gone.  
  
"Well Tyler," Nancy said. "What does it say?"  
  
"'We're out there.'"  
  
_Fin_   
  



End file.
